Innovations

Doll-makers have long been at the frontiers of innovation. New ideas are never in short supply, however some have been more successful and long-lasting than others. Let’s explore the doll laboratory.

There’s no business like show business. From the Golden Age of Hollywood: Monica – a rare, and ground-breaking, high fashion beauty. The Monica of Hollywood doll is a vintage star that evokes the glamour of cinema in the 1940s. This doll’s looks are presumed to be inspired by the likeness of Monica Bannister, a little-known actress today, who appeared in the 1933 movie Mystery of the Wax Museum. The doll certainly shares this starlet’s smoldering eyes and distinctive cupid’s bow lips.

The dolls were created in 1941 by Mrs. Hansi Share, at the age of 53. Monica was quite unique – unlike any other doll available at that time. Manufactured for only ten years by the Monica Doll Studios of Hollywood, the first dolls appeared in Toys and Novelties magazine.

Mrs. Share’s great innovation was to root real human hair directly into the composition material of the dolls’ heads. Although nowadays rooted hair is a commonplace feature of vinyl dolls, this was the first time that dolls’ hair had been inserted this way. Monica dolls are not marked at all, but the rooting and the distinctive face paint makes them easily identifiable.

It was important to Mrs. Share that the hair had more versatility than the traditional glued-on wigs. She was keen that the dolls would offer as much play value as possible. Monica’s locks could be combed, curled, and finger-waved. Human hair in shades of blonde, brunette, black, and auburn was used. The hairline often featured a widow’s peak – reminiscent of the actress Margaret Lockwood in the movie The Wicked Lady.

Monica is jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. The third and fourth fingers are molded together and the nails are painted red. The feet are flat, so the dolls can stand more easily, as opposed to the later teenage dolls with high-heel feet.

The composition used for the dolls’ heads is of a much finer quality than that used for the bodies. It does, however, craze very easily and it has been noted that the dolls should not be moved rapidly from a hot to a cold environment. Extremes of humidity should also be avoided.

A range of sizes was available to purchase, ranging from 11- to 24-inches. Although the dolls are universally known as “Monica” today, it seems that they were given different names according to their height. Other characters introduced in 1942 as 17-inch dolls were known as Veronica, Joan, and Rosalind. It is thought that these were depictions of Veronica Lake, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, some of the top film stars of the era.

The dolls were sold in exclusive stores throughout the United States and Canada. Georg Jensen, an elegant jewelry store in New York, advertised her as the “Miss America” of dolls. F.A.O. Schwarz put its own label on some of the dolls, and Monica was shown in the 1947 Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog. The high-end image of these dolls was reflected in their cost: vintage ads quote prices in excess of $20, quite a sum for the 1940s. The dolls were presented in re-purposed florists’ rose boxes, simply labeled “Monica Doll … From … Hollywood.” There was a wrist tag on each doll.

Intended to be high fashion dolls, they were elaborately dressed. The clothing was never tagged, but some of the styles are easily identifiable, with familiarity. The use of fancy trims, rickrack, and floral accents, are the most distinguishing elements.

The high cost of the dolls at the time, the relatively low numbers produced, as well as the dolls’ propensity to crazing and hair loss, makes it difficult to find them in excellent condition.

By the mid-1950s, Madame Alexander was making a hard plastic doll that had a rooted vinyl skull cap, with synthetic hair. By the 1960s, vinyl dolls with rooted hair became the norm in the industry. By this time Hansi Share’s dolls were obsolete. But she had changed the industry with her small doll company producing a rare, unique, and high quality offering for today’s collector.

The pop-apart doll that launched many budding dress-makers with her cut-and-drape fashions.

Created in 1963 by American Character, Popi’s unique selling point was that her body popped apart so as to be easily re-dressed in a wardrobe of creative cut-out clothes. The outfits were pre-printed on vinyl sheets in patterns resembling top fashions. Once cut out, the shapes could be placed over the pegs that held Popi together and draped to make instant couture. Voilà!

The main sales pitch for Popi was that no sewing was required. As it said on the box, “Cut and Drape Fashions – no-sew fun for girls”. Marketed as a fashion doll, her image was enhanced by the spare, modern illustrations on the packaging. There was remarkably little similarity between these lovely drawings and the doll in the box or her fashions. But this should not detract from the doll herself, who remains a little charmer.

The Popi series consisted of five kits. No.1, the Starter Kit, included the doll with a three-piece torso which came apart at the bust and the waist, a pre-printed day dress, three wigs, a stand, and a pair of white mules. Her wigs were molded plastic in a mix-and-match variety of three groovy styles and colors: black, brunette, and an orangey blonde.

Four fashion kits completed the series: Casual, Lingerie, Playtime, and Formal. Each kit had outfits for the ideal 1960s wardrobe – taking Popi from garden parties, cruise ships, glamorous galas, a little tennis, and finally, to bed. The idea was that you’d get three dolls in one, and plenty of play!

A teeny-tiny 60s doll that packs a load of play value. Her rubbery vinyl wardrobe has proved to be resilient over the years. Please note that the doll has absolutely no relation to the similarly-named snack cakes!

This little doll, made by Louis Marx in 1965, stands at a diminutive 5-inches tall. Twinkie was sold as a complete boxed set, including all clothing and accessories – there’s nothing further to collect! The doll has no relation to, and post-dates, the Twinkies snack cakes by Hostess Brands, Inc. yet another innovation, invented by James Alexander Dewar in 1930.

But let’s get back to the doll, and have a rummage in her wardrobe. She is made of molded plastic, and jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. Straight out of the box, Twinkie is bald with painted socks, shoes, and face.

The new concept for Twinkie was the use of a rubbery vinyl for her range of molded clothes. Fastenings, at the back of dresses and skirts, were by means of a peg and hole closure. The stole, hats, and wigs simply form-fitted to the doll’s body.

The great advantage here was that the clothes were durable, didn’t easily soil or fade, and there were no snaps or buttons to fall off. Although the peg and hole fastenings were a point of weakness.
The clothing was mainly in brown and tan, so the occasional pop of bright blue, orange, and yellow was welcome.

Marx hit on a winning formula with these dolls, and produced a range of 11-inch tall action figures with flexible molded vinyl clothes. These included the Johnny and Jane West line of Wild West figures; Mike Hazard, the international spy; and April Dancer, the Girl from U.N.C.L.E figure, based on the popular 1960s TV series starring Stefanie Powers. This last doll is particularly hard to find and can command eye-wateringly high prices on the secondary market.

Twinkie dolls were often kept intact in the box by their young owners, so it is relatively easy to find complete sets today, or perhaps by combining a couple of sets to get the whole collection.

A doll that never really took off, despite a clever concept.

Following the success of hair-themed dolls, such as Tressy by American Character, Hasbro entered the market in 1972 with Aimée.

The unique selling point of this 18-inch tall doll was not a ‘growing’ strand of hair, as for Tressy and her larger cousin Crissy. Hasbro’s offering had a whole series of wigs and wiglets, attached to her head by means of painful-looking snaps that pressed directly into locator holes in her scalp. Not a wigged doll as such, although a full wig was available, rather she had a range of hair pieces to create many styles.

This doll was clearly not designed for slouching around the house, her range of outfits suggested that she spent her time attending only the best parties. Ever-dressed for cocktails and not for domestic chores, the boxed doll wore a long formal gown in a random paisley effect with gold braid trim, very on-trend for the 1970s.

She’d like to teach the world to sing, and while she’s at it this doll shows off her wacky round-the-world take on national costumes.

Mimi might not have been the world’s first singing doll, but she certainly had the biggest ambitions. Spurred on by the global phenomenon of Coca Cola’s 1971 theme tune, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony), Remco rapidly brought this doll to the marketplace.

Using the TV ad with its hilltop location and a panoramic sweep of multicultural youth as inspiration, Mimi was set for international travel. Eschewing phrase books, or any kind of regular communication – this doll used the language of song to communicate, using the innovative approach of mini vinyl records to create the sound.

The basic 20-inch tall doll (available as Black and Caucasian) came complete with discs, song sheets and a stand. She sang her own versions of “I’d Like to Teach…” in English, French, German, Greek, Polish, Hebrew, Spanish, and Italian, by inserting the records into a battery-operated player inside the doll’s chest cavity. She wore a Courrèges-influenced world traveler outfit with a jaunty tam-o-shanter. As Remco pointed out, “Mimi knows no boundaries… only the brotherhood of song!”

But the outfits were the thing. Available separately and beautifully made, these were a real 70s spin on national costume. And if you hadn’t heard enough of Mimi’s dulcet tones, each one included two more records with local folk tunes in both English and the country’s own language. To help you get in the swing of things, there were further song sheets for hours of sing-along fun.

Only six costumes were manufactured. Despite the inclusion of French and Greek in the basic doll’s repertoire, these countries’ outfits never came about. It’s interesting to speculate what the designers might have done for these costumes, based on their other interpretations.

Mattel’s anthropomorphic line of fashion dolls were unusual, to say the least. They caught the imagination of kids at the time, but the line was not developed further.

The Gorgeous Creatures were a line of 7½-inch tall fashion dolls made by Mattel in 1979. The figures were voluptuous, and they featured animal heads with full make-up. Although a little macabre, they do possess a certain charm.

The full line up was Cow Belle (has a creamy complexion), Ms. Heavenly Hippo (as pretty as a pitcher), Ms Giddee Yup (a real clotheshorse), and Princess Pig (loves Snacks 5th Avenue). The dolls were billed as having pretty parlor hairdos, and shapely poses – with moveable arms and legs. Each was fully dressed in a gown with hat, shoes, stole, hanky, opera gloves, and boyfriend’s picture with a frame. Additionally, there were some plastic hair-styling and dressing table accessories included.

It’s possible that Mattel was influenced by the success of Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show for this collection, Surprisingly enough Henson doesn’t appear to have taken action against Mattel for the very close likeness of Princess Pig to the Muppet’s star, Miss Piggy, created three years earlier. In 1976, Miss Piggy started out in the chorus of the show. Thanks to her charisma, and a correspondence course in karate, Piggy made her presence known and soon became the lead chanteuse and femme fatale on the show.

For this story, we have teamed the Gorgeous Creatures up with some of the newest animal-themed fashion dolls, the Out! Collector figures by Patrick Grange, Tossa Tossa, Meow Meow, and Otou Tossa.

Hee Park’s mini burlesque beauty is a one-sixth scale resin doll. Amongst Bambola’s unique features is a set of solid resin wigs that fasten on magnetically.

Bambola is an 11½-inch tall French resin doll introduced in 2010 by Jung Hee Park of South Korea, under the brand name of mydolling. She has blue inset eyes, applied lashes, and wears solid resin wigs to avoid those annoying fly-away hairs.

She’s a curvaceous doll, inspired by World War II pin-ups, as well as Bettie Page, and Dita Von Teese. She is such a saucy-looking girl, with an air of having been up to no good, even though it’s all probably totally innocent!

La Dolce Bambola was launched as an exclusive gift set by Haute Doll magazine, February 2010, and was the cover star for that issue.

The Latina Bombshell created by Mike Buess, Fabiola of Hollywood is a modern 1950s-inspired fashion doll with a singularly unique feature.

According to her bio, Fabiola of Hollywood was a fashion model and dancer who rose to major sex symbol status during the 1950s and 1960s. Oozing with sparkling glamour, Fabiola was known for shocking Hollywood society with her slinky over-the-top style and daring plunging necklines.

The doll even has her own shopping experience, Cedrick’s of Hollywood, styled as “the petite department store filled with dozens of dazzling darlings for all your needs in glamour. Where you too can be a lucky star. Shop today before everything is snatched up! Big Style. Doll Sized.”

For Fabiola the eyebrows are the thing. In other words, a little fashion mishap became a sensation. Fabiola’s eyebrows were plucked and bleached a few too many times and never really grew back. Tired of drawing them on, she presented reusable eyebrows to Cedrick. Since eyebrow fashions changed quite quickly and hoards of girls were in the same boat, they gave them a try. Word spread and within two months production needed to be amped up to meet demands. Brows were produced in colors to match current clothing collections. Fabiola suddenly had it all. Men wanted her, and women (and some men) wanted to be her.

The self-adhesive vinyl eyebrows make Fabiola’s hand-painted face more expressive than the average fashion doll. Her body is hand buffed, then a wash of bronzer is added to some areas. She is then highlighted in fine glittery gold dust and is sealed with a gloss finish for extra glow. Her custom box is reminiscent of perfume packaging of the 1950s. The back of her box includes her bio, and contains an acrylic posing stand. Each series is limited to 300 custom dolls and her number in that series is listed at the bottom of the box.

Fabiola is 11½-inches tall. This pin-uppity glamour doll is a one-of-a-kind work of art for the adult collector. Find out more about Fabiola at www.fabiolaofhollywood.com.